[SIZE=+2]Conclusion[/SIZE]
This charger can handle many chemistries and many battery sizes and in addition to this it has a good precision, all of this is way above any other (consumer) charger on the market at the current time.
Using the safety functions (Capacity, time, temperature) it is very easy to add a extra layer of safety to the charge process and due to the programs it only has to be configured once and then it will be active for all charging of the battery type.
The charger has 3 UI modes, the dummy mode is mostly for people that got this charger without realizing what it is, the simple mode can be used to charge/test any chemistry, but it is not really possible to adjust any parameters. For really using the charger there is only advanced mode (Or PC/phone interface).
The charger is not without issues, most of them will probably be fixed with software upgrades, I have collected some of them here:
- It is required to remember the program numbers or press a key, on the initial screen there is no hint on how the selected program works.
- Default time on LiIon is 3 hours, this is to short.
- When terminating on time or capacity, no capacity information is saved.
- Break_in shows charged capacity, not discharge capacity.
- Backlight always requires a keypress to turn on, putting a battery into the charger will not turn the light on
- Factory calibration do not match specifications.
- The PC software requires a high screen resolution
- NiMH charge curves looks messy on PC, an option to hiding measuring pauses would be nice.
- PC software saves csv files at wrong location.
- It is not possible to copy programming from one charger to another, people with more than one charger (That will be me) must enter each program on each charger!
- The Bluetooth software is not stable and do not work on all phones.
- Strange coding on the usb output, why not use a chip to automatic get the best coding?
Even with all the above issues I can only call it a very good charger, but it is not for everyone.